Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-11-12

the pOilce hDt Ulllltit, afc itaafJ W H
der. No workingman should leave his
homo these days with empty pockets.
On May "a, it said: Everything de-
pcnds on quick and immediate action.
The tactics of the bosses are to gain
tune. BY Monday or Tuesday, tue
conflict must have reached Its high
est intensity else the success
will I've doubtful" On Tuesday, May
4th. appeared in the Zcit9ng an article
by Spics in reference to the riot at Nc
Cormick's factory with this heading:
Blood Lead and powder as a cure Tor
dissatisfied workmen About SIX Ia
borcrs mortally and four times the mum.
Der slightly wounded This Is law and
order" The article said: Wage
workers. yesterday the police murdered
at the Mccormick factory four OF your
brothers. II brothers who defended
themselves with stones had been pro-
yidei with good weapons and one single
dynamite bomb. not one OF the muir
derers would have escaped his we'll
merited fate" The evidence supplied
by these publications was supplemented
by evidence OF meetings at which the
seven defendants arranged the details Oh
the projected murders.
A meeting, including these persons
and others, was held on May "a, at
which plan OF operations, originated
by Engel. was adopted. The plan con-
templated the throwing OF bombs into
the police force and the use OF rifles by
members of the Lehr and Weir Norein
in case their proceedings were inter-
iered with. Next day, at another meet
ing. Spies exhibited his revenge circu-
lar" calling his followers 10 arms IL
was headed "Reyenge Revenge !
and used this language "Slayes, we
ask and coniure You 10y all that is sacred
and dear 10 you, ayenge the atrocious
murder which has been committed lst
McCormick's 3 factory on your brothers
to-day. To arms This must be your
motto Think of the heroes whose blood
has fertilized the road to progress,
liberty, and humanity, and strive to be-
come worthy of them"
Engels plan was again formally APP
proved. the understanding being that
the armed Anarchists would assist the
mob against the police i'll case of a dis
turbauce that bomb should he thrown
into each police-statiOn ; that the police
men on issuing from the stations should
be shot down one by one, and be thus
prevented from reaching the scene Of
conflict, and that when victory was Sc
cured, the various Anarchist bodies
should march 10 the centre OF the city,
cutting telegraph wires and firemen's
hose, and killing all that opposed. The
plan was not carried out exactly as pro-
posed, but it seems to be beyond ques-
ton that the tragedy of May 4th was
due To the adoption of Engels "plan"
on the I'd and 3D. of May. The
lives and antecedents of the con-
demncd present points of interest. A
leader in the enterprise was August Spies,
who was born in Hesse, came 10 this
country in 1872, became a Socialist in
1877, and gained the position OF editor
OF the Arbciter /eitnng IN 1884. Hewa
the ablest and most Influential OF the
Chicago Anarchists. Adolph Fischer.
Michael Schwab. and Oscar Neebe were
among the stockholders of the /eitung.
Fischer was born in Germany and was q
printer 10y trade Finding the /eitang
not sufficiently radical in its views, he
started rival paper, Der Andrchist.
| Schwab came from Mannheim, Germany.
in 1879, and associated himself with
Spies in his journalistic work. George
Engel, who was Fischers partner in Def
/ Anarchisf, came 10 America from Cas-
sci, Germany, in 1873. Albert Parsons,
the only native American among tha
convicted, was born in Montgomery, Ala
bama, and was printer by trade. Having
become a Republican, he obtained APP
pointments to Federal Offices at Austin.
Texas, where he married mulatto in
/ 1872. Having been driven from tho
South, he went to Chicago. where he
followed his trade for some time, and
then became II professional labor agitator.
/ In 1881 he became editor Of the Alarm,
the organ of an advanced group of An
archists. Samuel Fielden. born in Ian
cashire, England, came to America in
1863. He was an operative in a cotton
mill in New York in that year, and has
since worked ut Chicago rs q laborer. In
1880 he met Spies and Parsons in the
Liberal League, and in 1888 he devoted
himself to the occupation ola travelling
agitator.